Bryan Dear’s Blog

Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else’s resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property. Milton Friedman, 1912 – 2006

Do you count your savings when you spend your money -”Wow, look how much money I’m saving?” - or do you count the money you spent?

Do you count your winnings without deducting the amount you invested whether it’s poker, horseracing, or playing the lottery, or do you deduct what you have put in the pot before you announce your winnings?

Do you make investments because the tax savings look so attractive or because the return on your investment is attractive?

Are you familiar with the expression, “If it’s too good to be true, then most likely it is.”?

The  HIRE Act recently passed by our federal government encourages employers to hire people who have been unemployed for the previous sixty days. By doing so, the employer saves 6.2% on the wage amount for the remainder of the year.  There’s an additional tax credit if the employee stays with the employer for 52 weeks.

Would you hire an employee just because of this savings?

I doubt it. It’s nice to have. I’m not going to turn it down (although the government gives you the option to turn it down).  I sure wouldn’t start looking for new employees who fit the profile just because there’s a slight discount for the remainder of the year.

The world is constantly telling us the time is now to buy and save. I think I’ll save my money until I’m ready to spend. If I can negotiate a deal – great. If there’s a sale at that time – great. But I’m not going to do something until I’m ready – at least that’s my goal.

Keep working. Keep thinking. Save – by not spending.

Cheers,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592

Within our culture, growth is usually considered a good thing – more jobs, more taxes are collected for governments, people buy more and businesses enjoy higher profits. There are also the unpleasant side effects such as busier roads, higher impacts on schools, higher impacts on our environment and through growth, our community may become unrecognizable over time.

That’s one way to look at growth when it comes to an organization. But gee whiz. Growth refers to quite a bit more than that. As an individual, my growth, as measured by me, refers to my bodily health and my mental health. Do I have deeper friendships? Am I working on acquiring another skill (cooking, language, quilting)? Am I giving more of myself to whatever task I am doing? Am I exercising? In short, am I a better person, again as measured by me, than I was before?

Why can’t an organization’s growth follow a similar definition? Is a flat revenue and a flat production cycle bad? Is declining revenue and declining production bad? Maybe – our culuture would ususally answer yes and our stock market would put a big exclamation point behind that yes. But there are different measurements.

Did we spend more time with our customers? Did we figure how to add services without increasing costs? Did our employees think more highly of us? Did our clients think more highly of us? Did we forge stronger vendor relationships? Is the business a more enjoyable place to walk into? 

You get the drift. What measurements of growth besides the traditional one of dollar and volume  can be used?

There’s a strong correlation between the organization growing through a different set of initiatives than a focus on sales and production. Profit that sustains the business is necessary to long-term health. However, many times the growth of other aspects of the business have more to do with that profit than the traditional measurements.

Grow inwardly and prosper,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

 I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

Focus on the intangibles – sure pay is important, but it’s the ambiance, the hours there and the hours away, the area they work in, the air temperature and many other variables that provide either a “good or great place to work” or an ”I can’t wait to get out of here” place to work. If your employee is in the first category, they will cut you quite a bit of slack before they leave your place of employment. If pay is a dicey issue, work on the other areas that may have little or no cost to you.

Here’s my list – in no order – and one that can certainly be added to.

Ask the employee what they like and don’t like about their job surroundings – and be prepared. You may hear it’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s messy, the computer is loud, the phone is uncomfortable, the desk is too high or too low, the chair is broken, the office supplies are constantly being borrowed, etc. You get the message – it’s very possible that a relatively minor thing from your perspective is a major issue in their work life. If you can adjust the situation, you’ve done two things – made their work environment a little more comfortable and you’ve shown you cared. WOW – that’s big in almost anybody’s book.

Offer direct deposit if you don’t already – a very low cost with a major convenience to the employee.

If you already have a SIMPLE retirement plan and you’re thinking about eliminating it because of the 3% match, consider dropping the match below that number. The government says you can offer a match of not less than 1% two years out of five years. This could be one of those years.

Don’t drop the health insurance – increase the employee portion or tell them what you’re willing to pay for insurance and ask them to find a plan that works for them.

Make incentive pools that if made are helping the business – for this to really work,  you need to find the area where the employee feels this is an appropriate stretch or the system you have developed makes it easy for them to help you.

Some employees may be fine with fewer hours and see this as a benefit – if so take advantage of this offer if the business can still function well.

Tell the employees you need their help – you need to cut costs by a dollar amount. What ways do they come up with to make this happen? Assuming you have credibility with them, they’ll have good ideas and better yet, they may be able to implement their ideas with enthusiasm.

The same goes with revenue – what ways can you and your staff identify that will better serve your current customer base (by far the easiest revenue to generate) or elicit ideas on how to generate a larger customer base?

Your employees can help generate testimonials, references and additional business just by asking your customers.

Recognize your employees – within the company, with their peers, and if appropriate, within the community. This may not be your best tactic for your shy person, but it may be huge for other employees – you need to know what makes them tick .

Finally, how long does all this last – forever if it’s working. Even in the good times, give your employees more reasons to show up at work.

Our work world is not just a job, but an adventure and it’s a huge portion of our lives.

Cheers,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

 Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words.    Ecclesiasticus

I’m not the only one.

Someone has just spoken to me and one of two things has happened:

1) I ask them to repeat the entire thought.

2) I say “OK” and then have no idea what I just said ok to.

Yikes. It’s called not paying attention. Or it’s called multi-tasking and doing a pitiful job. Or it’s called disrespect.

How much more efficient would I be if I paid attention the first time? How much time would I save and the speaker save if they only have to say it once?

 How can I change?

By turning and facing the person when I’m ready to listen.

By letting the person know that either I’m ready or I’m not ready to listen.

By repeating back to the speaker a summary of what I heard.

We can only improve by giving it another try. Here I go, again…

xxxxx

So I tested the above theory by turning to the person and facing them before they began to speak. It didn’t work…very well. I still ended up asking for their thought to be repeated.

It’s still better to ask for repetition than it is to acknowledge without really hearing (at least for me).

Hard of hearing or hard of listening – I’m probably both.

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz